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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23886427">Three Steps From Destiny</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCatshire/pseuds/TheCatshire'>TheCatshire</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Ambiguous Relationships, Drabble, Ficlet, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Final Fantasy VII Remake Spoilers, Friendship, Gen, Loss, Memory Loss, Mention of Sephiroth, Mention of Zack, Parallel Universes, Retrospective, Spoilers, Zack Fair &amp; Cloud Strife Friendship, Zack Fair Lives</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 15:34:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>767</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23886427</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCatshire/pseuds/TheCatshire</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>*CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR FINAL SCENE OF FFVII REMAKE. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.*</p><p>Cloud stands in deep thought about the past, present, and future outside Midgar. Though he doesn’t fully understand it, he can’t help but feel like a long lost friend has just passed him by.</p><p>A ficlet set during the last cutscene of FFVII Remake. Subscribes to the parallel universe/timeline theory.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>32</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Three Steps From Destiny</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I'm not going to lie, I wrote this for instant gratification a day after finishing FFVIIR. I was screaming when Zack survived the battle - the end of CC wrecked me and still wrecks me years later so this made my heart SING! I subscribe most heavily to the parallel universe/timeline theory so I hope this means Zack and Cloud are alive and well in Midgar in another universe.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Cloud and his friends stood silently at the edge of boundless, terrifying freedom. Mist veiled the landscape before them. As Cloud gazed into the fog he couldn't help but feel anxious. The view was almost metaphorical as if the planet realized the significance of their undertaking. He - they - had vowed to forge their future by their own hands. Unlike the destiny they had cast aside, this path was shrouded with uncertainty. Anything could be out there.</p><p>Though he had visited many places as Shinra’s lapdog before deserting, standing on the ground outside Midgar somehow felt <em>different</em>. The world may not have changed since then, but they were setting out to change the world. Then Cloud had traveled Gaia at the command of his masters. Now he walked away as their sworn enemy: a wanted man, protector of the planet.</p><p>This time he wasn’t alone. Though he wouldn’t readily admit it to his companions - or even himself for that matter - Cloud had found a family. The same blood didn’t run through their veins, but the threads of their lives were now entangled in the same messy tapestry. Cloud may have tried his best to put on a tough and uncaring air, but there would be a hole in his heart if he had to say goodbye to any of them.</p><p>
  <em>Especially her.</em>
</p><p>Cloud took his first footsteps into an uncertain future beside his friends.</p><p><b><em>The first step was in remembrance of the sacrifices made. </em> </b> Perhaps the most defining piece of the journey ahead was not what was to come, but those already lost along the way. All of the innocent people trapped in Sector 7 when the plate fell. The Midgar citizens unlucky enough to be in the wrong place when reactors 1 and 5 exploded. Biggs. Jessie<em>. </em> His heart was burdened by Shinra’s unwilling victims. There had been no time to mourn them, and still, it would have to wait. They weren’t safe yet - leaving the sprawling metropolis wasn’t going to be as easy as simply walking away. The people still drawing breaths today needed him, all of them, now. Their lives depended on it.</p><p><b> <em>The second was in defiance of Sephiroth.</em> </b> Just the thought of him made his blood boil. <em> The bastard had actually asked Cloud to join him. </em> For mysterious reasons still unknown to him, Sephiroth was the man behind the curtain pulling the strings. Shinra was ruthless, but this man’s very existence represented a danger they couldn’t comprehend. As long as Sephiroth walked this earth, the planet and her people wouldn’t know peace. <em> He </em>wouldn’t know peace. The one-winged war hero of old had terrorized his psyche long enough. Cloud vowed that as long as he drew breath, it would be to spit in the face of this man, <em> this monster</em>, that threatened to take away the things he had come to love about this world.</p><p>
  <b> <em>The third was for...</em> </b>
</p><p>A single step dissolved into eternity as a dam of emotions ruptured inside him, spewing forth like a river to fill the container of his soul. <em> What was this? </em> But unlike the pain of loss and the strength of resolve, this felt more… familiar somehow? Like the rush of relief after seeing a close friend you thought had perished suddenly standing in front of you. A pleasant feeling, but so sudden and unannounced that it threatened to bring you to your knees. Cloud’s stomach churned as he struggled to make sense of the outpouring of emotions overtaking him. Was it hope? Or maybe… <em> love? </em></p><p>Something wet and hot, a contrast to the cool rain, rolled down his cheek. Startled, Cloud brought one of his hands to wipe the tear away. <em> But why…? </em>He was confused and overwhelmed by the happiness rising up his throat to choke him.</p><p>The air stirred to his left as if something moved past him, impossible as everyone except Aerith was already ahead of him. Cloud turned to face Midgar just in time to see the silhouette of two figures framed against the rising sun: a person with a massive sword on their back supporting another body that appeared unsettlingly familiar…</p><p>Cloud blinked and they were gone, a hallucination as transient as the rain’s light breeze.</p><p>Aerith stood silently, framed by the metal city in the distance. Tears now flowing freely brought on by emotions he couldn’t wrap his thoughts around, he locked eyes with hers. Aerith nodded, a peaceful smile playing on her features. Though he couldn’t fully grasp it, <em> he understood</em>.</p><p>Cloud smiled back.</p><p>He continued one foot in front of the other beneath the great, never-ending sky.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>A note on the line "Especially her.": This was meant to be ambiguous. I don't have a dog in the fight of Cloti vs. Clerith (TEAM CLACK 4 LIFE), so my hope is that people interpret this in favor of their preferred ship.</p><p>Constructive criticism welcome!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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